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Gravity as a Factor in the Animal Environment^{1, 2,}

University of California,³ Davis 95616

Abstract

Gravity has occupied a key position in the development of physical science and its physical aspects are very well understood. Its influence on biological systems, however, remains relatively obscure—largely the result of its constancy, and an inability to alter it. An important by-product of space exploration has been a renewed interest in biological effects of gravity, and an increasing appreciation for the broad influence that it has upon living things.

In recent years, animal centrifuges, capable of protracted operation, have been developed at several laboratories and used to study biological responses to simulated changes in gravity. Descriptions of these devices and of the acceleration fields developed have been reported elsewhere (Matthews, 1953; Dixon and Patterson, 1953; Kelly, Smith and Winget, 1960; Walters, Wunder and Smith, 1960; Wunder, 1965; Cooke and Bancroft, 1966). The changes observed in animals adapted to the hyperdynamic environments have been interpreted variously in the several laboratories engaged in this research.

¹ The Chronic Acceleration Research Unit at Davis is supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, by Grant: NGR 05-004-008.

² Presented at the Symposium on Influence of Environment on Nutrient Requirements of Animals, at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Animal Science, Davis, California, August 2, 1971. Co-sponsored by the Committee on Animal Nutrition, National Research Council.

³ Department of Animal Physiology.